The Energy Crisis - Hans Juan [Final]

The world currently relies on crude oil as a means of energy. Unfortunately, this valuable resource is running short. The dependency on oil has created a negative chain of events, which until now is worsening. The failure of looking for alternative means of energy and the long term reliance on oil since the industrial age has resulted in the lack of oil needed to power the energy-hungry world. Because of this, oil is becoming more valuable, thus the cause of price increase. Since world population is rapidly increasing, the demand for energy is equally rising. This crisis will cause problems on the energy-dependent world.
Oil is required to create energy with the use of several power plants. Since these plants demand for a large amount of oil each time, the homes and commercial sites they distribute energy to also face the higher cost of energy. This also leads to the higher cost of producing commodities that are in demand, since machinery are powered from the energy they receive from power plants, or even run on the oil themselves, thus increasing their price. Since these commodities need to be moved from the production line to the area of demand, transportation, both local and international is required, which also leads to the fact that the transportation of commodities will become even more costly, since the means of transportation run on fuel that is derived from oil. This will lead to the higher cost of these necessary commodities which are continuously increasing in demand. In short, the cost of living for people who live in energy-hungry societies will rise. Virtually everything will rise in value.
Although the energy crisis continues to affect billions of lives, several means of averting the problem have been taken in action. Today, bio-diesel is slowly being used by some vehicles in the United States. Since this fuel can be harnessed from used vegetable oil or inedible animal parts, it does not require any crude oil. Solar power is also being used today. The sun is a valuable source of energy, since it can provide 10’000 times more energy than we need to completely power the planet, and we will never run out of this resource. Although solar panels can be quite costly in large quantities, it may well be the solution to the energy crisis. Another possible solution that is taking effect is the usage of modern wind mills that spin with the wind to generate electricity. Once a windmill or a wind farm is established, only the natural wind is required for the generation of energy. A rather old but clever method of gathering energy without the usage of oil is hydro power. Dams that intercept river flow can generate electricity using the constant flow of the river. Although this type of energy generation is rather old and has long been used, it has been very reliable. An example of clean, renewable, and most importantly, alternative use of hydro power is the Hoover Dam. This dam is completely powering the state of Nevada (in which Las Vegas is located in), the state of Arizona, and eleven locations in California, including Los Angeles. Lastly, ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), an experimental fusion reactor now also being used to create energy derived from fusion, which too is derived from hydrogen that the fusion reactor heats until it reaches 100’000’000 degrees centigrade. In short, a fusion reactor mimics the fusion reaction that constantly occurs in the sun. With this type of source of energy, hydrogen would become the new means of energy, which is the most dominant element in our biosphere. Also, the hydrogen in a bathtub full of water can provide one man’s energy needs for 30 years. Lastly, the fusion reactor will provide cheap energy, making it easy to blend with the power-hungry world.
Now, on an international scale, I believe that all countries that can afford to use alternative sources of energy must do so as soon as possible. Probably, a solar panel, a windmill or a dam cannot produce sufficient amounts of energy by themselves, but when combined and heightened in number, they will be able to do so. By now, the world should stop using crude oil to convert to energy anymore, since it only worsens the energy crisis. To be more specific, a law must be implemented that diesel-powered vehicles should run on bio-diesel, and all gasoline-powered vehicles must be Ethanol-gasoline mix compatible and must use the said mix to lessen the amount of fuel derived from oil. Developed countries should face-out oil-powered power plants in order to further lessen the use of oil. If possible, these countries should begin a proposal of constructing a fusion reactor for clean and affordable alternative energy.
On a national scale on the Philippine situation, all families or citizens who live on their own must follow a limited number of vehicles law. Also, since most of the Philippine roads are not well maintained and are not very structured, a new integration of road mapping would make vehicles more fuel-efficient, thus decreasing the local demand for oil. Lastly, rail transits should be further looked upon, since it is currently a main type of transportation. Rails should be further extended into more places around the country, which may lessen land, air and sea traffic.
So what can an individual without any sort of political or financial power do to begin such projects or actions? Since energy is a commodity that is in high demand, starting off by any means of saving energy would surely decrease the overall demand. Now your question would be “What difference would one person make when there are billions of people who use energy?” This is where the dramatic changes begin. For example, a conventional light bulb consumes 60 watts of electricity per second. On the other hand, an energy saving bulb only consumes 12 watts of electricity per second. This results to an 80 percent decrease switching from conventional light bulbs to energy saving light bulbs. In general, the overall consumption of oil would greatly decrease if more people switch to energy saving light bulbs.
There are other small ways that everyone could manage to do to greatly conserve energy, such as switching the lights off in an unoccupied room, bicycling or walking to nearby places, regulate the usage of household water (since water pumps, powered by electricity, are usually required to pump water into faucets, showers and toilets), and even unplugging ordinary household materials when not in use, such as television sets, computers, and lamps, which can actually save up to 75 percent of energy. Even having trees around your own house can save another 50 percent of energy usage during the summer.
An individual taking action to conserve energy may be insignificant to the overall global energy crisis, but if most or all individuals take action, the saved energy will multiply at least 30 fold.